M A I N   N E W S

Dump HJC for Assembly poll, demand BJP leaders
Naveen S Garewal
Tribune News Service

The Speaker, in a brief statement, said he had accepted her resignation and declared Adampur seat vacant. The BJP and the HJC are in a pre-poll alliance for both the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha elections. In Lok Sabha, the HJC agreed to contest two seats and the BJP the remaining eight. Initially, the HJC got Hisar seat, held by Bishnoi and Karnal seat from where the HJC wanted to field former Congressman Venod Sharma. But on account of objection by Sushma Sawraj at the instance of state BJP leaders, it was announced that the Karnal seat could be given to Bishnoi's brother Chander Mohan. But later the seat was given back to the BJP and the HJC agreed to field its candidate from Sirsa. While the BJP won Karnal seat by a huge margin, the HJC lost both Hisar and Sirsa seats.

For the Vidhan Sabha elections, the BJP-HJC combine is slated to contest 45 seats each in a House of 90. But on account of the Modi wave and the stupendous success achieved by the party in the parliamentary elections, the state BJP leaders want the agreement scrapped. The state BJP chief had only recently made a statement that the agreement was intact.

Ironically, at one point of time, Sushma Sawraj and other leaders were projecting Bishnoi as the future chief minister of Haryana. BJP leaders, who went to congratulate Sushma Sawraj on her impressive victory last night, brought up the subject during discussions. No formal decision has been taken so far.

Meanwhile, the INLD has come down heavily on the HJC and the Congress saying the elections had shown that people of Haryana want Vidhan Sabha elections now.

Meet Sushma

• Haryana BJP leaders met Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi
• They demanded that the party was now in a position to contest all 90 Vidhan Sabha seats on its own.
• There was no need for an alliance with the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC).
• The HJC lost both the Sirsa and Hisar seats to the INLD in the LS poll.